I made a soft landing onto the ground, my heart beating fast against my chest. Adrenaline coursed through my blood as I heard the entire palace erupt into chaos. Everything was happening so fast, but my sense of focus was sharper than usual. Whatever happened, I had to leave this place. I couldn't live surrounded by the walls of another country, secluded and guarded for the rest of my life. And what's worse was being tied down to a man I barely even knew.
I gathered myself, ready to move on to the next step of my plan.
"Your Highness! Look here!" a kid's voice called out to me.
Ah, there he is.
Running toward me was the boy who worked at the royal stables, pulling a white mare by the reins.
Ethan thrust a silk cloak at me and I quickly put it on. I wasted no second to climb up my horse, yanking my hood closer to my face to cover it.
The boy waved a hand at me as I tossed him a pouch of gold as thanks. "Be careful, Princess."
"You too." I clicked my tongue and kicked the mare to a run at full speed.
These saddlebags were already filled with my belongings, bringing with me a few clothes and some important trinkets. I had to travel lightly if I wanted to be far from home as quickly as possible.
Home, huh? Such a thought brought a hollow ache to my heart, but I had long thought about this decision. I knew that this was for the best. My parents would realize their mistake, and even then I wasn't sure if I would return.
"There she is!" I heard a shout at my back as I barely got to cross the palace courtyard. The knights were riding on horseback, catching up to me by the minute.
"Damn it," I murmured, "they're fast."
Thankfully, I had thought this through. The main road that led to the forest was right in front of me, but I pulled the reins and led the horse to a different direction. To the thicker part of the woods.
I spotted a figure awaiting behind a tree in the darkness of the night, right where I wanted her to be.
"Princess!" Lira, my maid, said in a hush as soon as she saw me coming. She was dressed like me from the bottom up, and when we passed by each other, it merely took a nod from me for her to get her horse to run to the other direction. Thus, fooling the guards that I went the other way in the process.
"Right on time," she'd said.
Riding deeper into the forest where there was scarce moonlight filtering through the copse of trees, I noticed that the palace guards' voices and the sounds of their galloping horses had finally died out. The trick worked, they were not following me anymore.
Lira was a good rider, so there was no doubt that she would outride those guards and successfully shake them off. All right, I guess I better go to our meeting point.
Looking around, I paused. Wait… Where am I?
I wouldn't say that this part of the forest looked familiar. Goddess, had I overdone it? I must have gone too deep.
No matter, I should just find a way out.
I pulled the reins back to the path I took, but the area seemed more and more different than before. The trees were thicker, their branches reaching out but not fully touching one another. But still, they were big enough not to leave any room for the moonlight to shine through, the icy air sending chills up my spine.
There was no sound except for the gentle thud of my horse's hooves against the soft ground and the mild whoosh of the wind that grazed my neck, never failing to send goosebumps along my skin.
I was doomed. I was completely, undeniably and undoubtedly lost. Lost. As in I didn't know the way back to where I'd come from.
It happened too suddenly. One moment I was on my horse, and the next my back was on a tree. A sharp pain lanced through my bones, stars dancing in my eyelids as I struggled to remain conscious. My blurry vision cleared, and I managed to get up.
I could remember a blur underneath my nose, and it was as though something had flicked me aside. Something strong. And incredibly fast.
The white horse was on the ground, taking in its last heave of breath until it finally went stiff. Dead.
An attack? But who—
A few distances next to my horse, I saw it. Stepping out of the shadows, a gigantic figure hulked. It blotted out the moon, its height rising and rising as it walked closer.
The thing that flicked me aside like I was a mere fly was an orc. With the skin an ugly violet, its body resembled that of an ape's. Tusks curved from its mouth that was riddled with fangs, and its flattened nose flared as its bulging red eyes focused on me as if it had made its mind that I was going to be prey.
"Oh, no."
Was this karma for what I had done earlier? No, I shouldn't be thinking of things other than my survival. Live first, regret later!
The orc charged at me, but I rolled to the left, trying to remember the little bits of training I could apply in this situation. But the problem was… none of it included fighting a goddamn orc.
Right, magic. My magic. I could use it.
The orc came at me once again, and when I saw that it was holding a freaking machete, my knees nearly gave out. But I managed to raise my hand, a brilliant light searing through the darkness. The orc growled and staggered back, dropping its machete and rubbing its eyes against the back of its clawed hands.
"Take that, you beast!" I said, kicking its machete as far as I could.
And then, it dropped its arms. My happiness was short-lived. The effects of my magic did not last long. Well, what did I expect? My magic was not for fighting, but for performances only. For display. If I could, I'd have traded this for Fire Magic like Galen's, but what could I do? Life was unfair.
The orc had decided that it was having none of it, and I could tell from its roar that he was planning on ending me once and for all.
I did not know what got to me, but I picked up its machete without thinking if it was too heavy for me. But adrenaline could make you do unthinkable things.
The orc was dashing toward me, and I lifted the blade up at the perfect timing. It couldn't stop its momentum when it saw me holding up the weapon, directly ramming its stomach to the tip.
Its pungent blood splattered onto my face, the stench making me gag.
I thought I was free, but the orc was not dead yet. With labored and dying breaths, it figured it could kill me just before it dies. The orc grabbed my waist and squeezed. Hard.
I heard the crack of a rib just as a blade sliced its arm clean, dropping me to the ground. Almost. Because the person had caught me. And the last color I saw was the darkest black of his eyes, deep and inviting like the abyss.